LAS VEGAS - Dant é Exum emerged from the Utah Jazz locker room early Thursday night looking exhausted. He had just completed his fourth NBA Summer League game in seven days, but another obligation still remained. About eight writers and cameramen awaited him. Of all the rookies who assembled in Las Vegas over the last week and a half, no one - not even top overall pick Andrew Wiggins or second overall pick Jabari Parker - fascinates to the degree that Exum does.

LAS VEGAS - Dant é Exum emerged from the Utah Jazz locker room early Thursday night looking exhausted. He had just completed his fourth NBA Summer League game in seven days, but another obligation still remained. About eight writers and cameramen awaited him. Of all the rookies who assembled in Las Vegas over the last week and a half, no one - not even top overall pick Andrew Wiggins or second overall pick Jabari Parker - fascinates to the degree that Exum does.

CHICAGO - Dante Exum had never experienced anything like what he endured Thursday afternoon at the 2014 NBA Draft Combine. When the time arrived to meet with the news media, a league official escorted him to a table. Video cameras focused on him, and bright lights shined in his direction. Journalists from across the United States encircled him and asked him question after question for half an hour. Where he comes from - Melbourne, Australia - basketball isn't this big a deal.

Danté Exum moved away from home at 15 years old, leaving his family in Melbourne, Australia, to train at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. The A.I.S. basketball team traveled to China, to the United States and to Europe to find decent competition, and the 18- and 19-year-old players from those teams wanted to test Exum, a gangly point guard. Ian Stacker, the former coach at A.I.S., will never forget how Exum responded: with grit. "As he'd drive to the basket," Stacker says, "the big kids would come across and often they'll try to put you on the ground to see whether you're going to get up or not. He deals with all that stuff just with a smile on his face.

The Magic are doing their draft homework on an intriguing and largely unknown foreign star. Kind of gives you the Fran Vazquez heebie-jeebies, doesn't it? How can it not? It's not Dante Exum 's fault. As far as he knows, Vazquez is a Spanish soap-opera star. An Australian phenom who didn't play college basketball, Exum has NBA scouts and execs salivating. He might make Magic fans a bit uneasy because of the disappearance of Vazquez. Vazquez was an international man of mystery in 2005, and the Magic gambled a No. 11 pick on him. The Spanish power forward came to Orlando after the draft with a translator … asked some players for autographs … hopped on a plane home … and was never seen here again.

Here are three names that Magic fans might as well get to know: Emmanuel Mudiay , Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander . Who are these guys? Oh, they could be the top three picks in the 2015 NBA Draft. There's also Kelly Oubre , Karl Towns and Wayne Selden . Hate to break it to everyone after the last bummer of a lottery - Orlando finished fourth in a supposed three-star draft - but the Magic are headed right back to the Land of Pingpong Balls next May. Guaranteed.

Hello, Mr. Hennigan. It's me. Your guy with the halo, accompanied by the harp music. The NBA Angel. Thank you for seeing me. I'm heaven-sent. Just left my pearly gated community. I see you've eaten some devil's food cake. Here, try some of the cake named after me. May I sit on your shoulder while we chat? The reason I made an appointment is to politely remind you to stay on the path to the draft lottery, Mr. Hennigan. Don't let anybody else get in your ear. The devil may care, but he really doesn't.

CHICAGO - The 2014 NBA Draft Combine feels anticlimactic. Although this is the most hyped draft class in over a decade, the consensus top prospects - Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins - are skipping the event. They aren't available to be interviewed by teams, won't receive physicals and won't be anywhere near the gym when on-court drills begin on Thursday. But the event still is crucial to the Orlando Magic. Barring a trade, the franchise will have a pair of top-14 picks, and team officials need to learn as much as possible about as many prospects as possible.

Tonight in midtown Manhattan, 14 pingpong balls numbered 1 to 14 will descend into an air-mixing lottery drum. The machine will turn on, sending the white spheres in different directions. After 20 seconds, one pingpong ball will be drawn. After another 20 seconds, one more pingpong ball will be drawn. And so on, until there are four pingpong balls altogether. The team that has been assigned all four numbers, in any order, wins. This is the Orlando Magic's equivalent of the Super Bowl: the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery, where the bounces of pingpong balls can help transform a losing team into a winner for the next decade.

The 2013-14 edition of the Orlando Magic assembled together for the final time Thursday. Little doubt exists that some of the players who exited Amway Center won't be coming back next season. That's a given with any professional sports team from year to year, but it's especially true for a team that finished with a 23-59 record and will have two top-14 picks in the upcoming draft. This begs a question: What, exactly, will general manager Rob Hennigan do to improve the team? That remains a mystery, but he didn't rule out any possibility.

On Feb. 12, Pittsburgh Panthers fans inside their home arena yelled and jumped up and down with 4.4 seconds remaining against the Syracuse Orange. Pitt fans had reason to feel confident. The Panthers led the Orange 56-55, and the Orange were about to inbound the ball from their own baseline. Many 19-year-old freshman point guards would have crumbled in that moment. Instead, Tyler Ennis thrived. He caught the inbounds pass just a few feet from the baseline and sprinted upcourt.

Here are three names that Magic fans might as well get to know: Emmanuel Mudiay , Jahlil Okafor and Cliff Alexander . Who are these guys? Oh, they could be the top three picks in the 2015 NBA Draft. There's also Kelly Oubre , Karl Towns and Wayne Selden . Hate to break it to everyone after the last bummer of a lottery - Orlando finished fourth in a supposed three-star draft - but the Magic are headed right back to the Land of Pingpong Balls next May. Guaranteed.

Tonight in midtown Manhattan, 14 pingpong balls numbered 1 to 14 will descend into an air-mixing lottery drum. The machine will turn on, sending the white spheres in different directions. After 20 seconds, one pingpong ball will be drawn. After another 20 seconds, one more pingpong ball will be drawn. And so on, until there are four pingpong balls altogether. The team that has been assigned all four numbers, in any order, wins. This is the Orlando Magic's equivalent of the Super Bowl: the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery, where the bounces of pingpong balls can help transform a losing team into a winner for the next decade.

CHICAGO - Dante Exum had never experienced anything like what he endured Thursday afternoon at the 2014 NBA Draft Combine. When the time arrived to meet with the news media, a league official escorted him to a table. Video cameras focused on him, and bright lights shined in his direction. Journalists from across the United States encircled him and asked him question after question for half an hour. Where he comes from - Melbourne, Australia - basketball isn't this big a deal.

CHICAGO - The 2014 NBA Draft Combine feels anticlimactic. Although this is the most hyped draft class in over a decade, the consensus top prospects - Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins - are skipping the event. They aren't available to be interviewed by teams, won't receive physicals and won't be anywhere near the gym when on-court drills begin on Thursday. But the event still is crucial to the Orlando Magic. Barring a trade, the franchise will have a pair of top-14 picks, and team officials need to learn as much as possible about as many prospects as possible.

And in other draft news … the dog-and-pony show will have to go on without the big dogs and ponies. Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid - the marquee picks in the NBA Draft and the names on every Magic fans' lips - are skipping the league's combine this week. It didn't take long for the freshmen trio to figure out that the players in the NBA call a lot of the shots, along with the agents. As one NBA exec told me Monday, "It's not like we can make them go. " Could you imagine Jadeveon Clowney, Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles blowing off the NFL combine?

On Feb. 12, Pittsburgh Panthers fans inside their home arena yelled and jumped up and down with 4.4 seconds remaining against the Syracuse Orange. Pitt fans had reason to feel confident. The Panthers led the Orange 56-55, and the Orange were about to inbound the ball from their own baseline. Many 19-year-old freshman point guards would have crumbled in that moment. Instead, Tyler Ennis thrived. He caught the inbounds pass just a few feet from the baseline and sprinted upcourt.

And in other draft news … the dog-and-pony show will have to go on without the big dogs and ponies. Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid - the marquee picks in the NBA Draft and the names on every Magic fans' lips - are skipping the league's combine this week. It didn't take long for the freshmen trio to figure out that the players in the NBA call a lot of the shots, along with the agents. As one NBA exec told me Monday, "It's not like we can make them go. " Could you imagine Jadeveon Clowney, Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles blowing off the NFL combine?

The Magic are doing their draft homework on an intriguing and largely unknown foreign star. Kind of gives you the Fran Vazquez heebie-jeebies, doesn't it? How can it not? It's not Dante Exum 's fault. As far as he knows, Vazquez is a Spanish soap-opera star. An Australian phenom who didn't play college basketball, Exum has NBA scouts and execs salivating. He might make Magic fans a bit uneasy because of the disappearance of Vazquez. Vazquez was an international man of mystery in 2005, and the Magic gambled a No. 11 pick on him. The Spanish power forward came to Orlando after the draft with a translator … asked some players for autographs … hopped on a plane home … and was never seen here again.

The 2013-14 edition of the Orlando Magic assembled together for the final time Thursday. Little doubt exists that some of the players who exited Amway Center won't be coming back next season. That's a given with any professional sports team from year to year, but it's especially true for a team that finished with a 23-59 record and will have two top-14 picks in the upcoming draft. This begs a question: What, exactly, will general manager Rob Hennigan do to improve the team? That remains a mystery, but he didn't rule out any possibility.